Bilal Dardai, a good and righteous man, started this particular virus going around and I just caught it! He passed it to Fuzzy Gerdes and then Don Hall and I got it from Don. Now, YOU can get it from me or Don or whoever. Doesn't matter where you got it, as long as you got it. The important thing is to just "get it".
Here's Bilal's original instructions for how this works...
Rules are as follows: You comment on this entry requesting an interview. I respond with five questions. The questions will theoretically be tailored to you based on what I know of you (or want to know). You copy and paste those questions into your own journal, and write the answers, along with these rules. Anyone wanting an interview from you continues the game by requesting an interview from you.Don Hall came up with these 5 questions for me. I dig 'em. Good questions. I'll answer them all as well as I can. With a minimum of bits. Here goes!
1) You get to create one more show before you die. What's the show?Give me The Goodman Stage for 3 or 4 years, an unlimited budget for staging and I will give the world a Staged performance of the Complete Sandman series by Neil Gaiman, covering every issue in digestible nuggets, with the visual spectacle to dazzle the audience. Gaimans words. My designs and staging, would be an unquestionable success.
2) You have the opportunity to 'download' one specific skillset (ala The Matrix) and retain it for six weeks, at which point you lose all retention of the skill. What skill do you download and what do you do with it?I am really interested in "
Parkour" lately. Parkour is the method by which one uses their entire body to run, jump, leap and bound across the cityscape. Leaping, sliding, swinging, flipping and dodging. It's also called "Free Running" and is basically the idea of crossing the urban landscape, passing the obstacles as cleanly and as efficiently as possible.
Remember the Opening Chase Sequence of Casino Royale? Yeah, well, the dude with the effed up face, that Bond is chasing, is Sebastien Foucan, who practices "Parkour" in France. One of the innovators of Free Running.
I'd like to be that graceful, that relentless, that fast, that unstoppable. That's how I move in my dreams. That's how the "inner me" moves. It would be cool if the "outer me" moved that way too.
Also, I answered this with the assumption that Flight wasn't a possibility. You know, because of gravity and whatnot, but if Flight were a possible 6 week download, I'd take that in a heartbeat. I would love to be able to fly around this lovely, lovely city.
3) If you were made up of only edible ingredients, what recipe cooks up some Biddle?Take a big hank of beef, and drop it into a vat of beef seasoning for 12 years or so. Let it THOROUGHLY soak up the seasoning. Remove the meat and bake it in an oven, until the edges are crispy. The meat will be tough to chew, but full of flavor and will absolutely leave you filled, after an eating.
Additionally, serve with wine or beer. Lots of it.
4) What would it take to make your worst enemy your best friend?Time, Distance, Vulnerability and Respect.
Time to forget whatever made him (or her) my enemy. Or at least enough time to "care about it less".
Distance from them to let the Time do it's work.
Vulnerability tells me that the other person is genuinely interested in resolving the issue and that they trust me enough not to tear them to shreds for showing their vulnerability. I would take that Trust pretty seriously.
Respect. If someone wants it from me, the first move, is to give it to me. And Respect isn't the same as Admiration.
5) In the movie of your life, is it a comedy, tragedy, dramady? Who plays you? Who plays your parents? Oh, great question. Who HASN'T ever thought, "man, my life is JUST LIKE a movie." I've never cast the movie before. So, this will be a nice challenge.
I think that my life would be a comedy with dramatic moments. Something alone the lines of "The Royal Tennenbaums" alternating the fun stuff with the heavy stuff without actually becoming heavy, itself. In fact, I'd like my biopic to be directed by Wes Anderson.
For my mom, I see Meryl Streep. She can convey the sense of humor and the quiet emotions, when she divorces young and raises a boy all by herself. She's sweet and still pretty, despite the years. A good woman.
For my dad, I would hav eto cast some unknown stage actor. There aren't many actors who accurately convey my dad's quiet intelligence and his gentle nature. Dads just aren't cast that way, normally, in modern media.
Young me, would be played by the kid who played Nicholas on "Eight is Enough". Adam Swift or something like that. His look and demeanor in that show was pretty dead on who I was, at that age.
High School Me would be played by "Terminator2" era Edward Furlong. Dark, hurt eyes, skater-haircut and his very clear discomfort with anything other than anger.
College Age Me would be played by "SNL-era" Bill Murray. Lots of slouching and smartass comments. The guy who came onto girls in such a self-consciously casual way, that it disarmed them. Beloved by the very teachers who were failing him for his absences and lack of interest.
Moved-to-Chicago Me would be played by Current Era Dan Aykroyd, who would spend the last twenty minutes of the movie in his underwear, pinching his belly fat in disbelief and horror, saying nothing.
So, a bit of a bummer ending on what has otherwise been a fun, light piece.
Well, those are my answers to MY questions. Now it's your chance, in the comments section below, to ask for an "interview" from me and get 5 questions from me. You can post the answers over on your own blog or leave them in the comments section below (if you don't have a blog or don't want one). Obviously the questions that I give will reflect how well I know you. I won't, of course, be able to devise questions for anonymous commentors. So, weigh your need for anonymity against your desire to participate.
(In my opinion, participation always wins. Always.)
Get up on this!
Cheers,
Mr.B
EDITED TO ADD:
Fuzzy Gerdes posted my questions over on FuzzyCo. I will answer them here. I'll include my answers to other questions here, as well. In this postscript.
1. Cats or dogs?Dogs.
2. Fries or mashed?Fries.
3. Springstein or Joel?Joel.
4. Denver or Florida*?Denver.
5. Trick or treat?Trick.
* aka mountains or the sea?Ha! That was hilarious.
Now for Erica's Interview...
1. You have the ability to turn anyone or anything into a robot so you could enjoy their company for the rest of your years, who would it be? (note--not clunky like a robot, it would be like nothing changed about them, so I suppose more like an android.)I'm glad you clarified. Because if I could turn anyone into a big, clumsy, clunky robot, the obvious choice would be Hendo. Just because his frustration would be funny to me.
Now that I know that it's meant to be a more human android type, I choose my dad. I miss him, terribly, somedays. And I he's such a gentle, calming influence in my life. Losing him, someday, is going to hurt. Badly. This robot deal will be a nice way to get around that.
2. Is there a moment in your life that from that point forward you knew everything was going to be different?Honestly, my first El train ride in Chicago. In October, 2000. From the Jarvis stop to some other red line stop to get burgers at Moody's. The day after I moved here. Just watching the building go by as we raced through the city (My first el train ride anywhere ever) and I knew that this was going to be great.
I could not have anticipated then, that I would run into you fine people.
3. With absolutely no limitations of any kind (physical, mental, etc.) which job would you choose for yourself?Easy. A writer. I wish I got paid to write clever or funny things. But I have no idea how to make that happen. So, I'm trying anything that comes up. Perhaps I'll happily stumble into that gig, by sheer determination.
4. If someone was buying you a round trip ticket to anywhere in the world, where would it be and what would you do there?I think that I'd like to see the Northern Lights before I die. And have crazy, wild sex with some pretty lass up in some cabin, in the woods. So, Alaska. For sex and atmospheric conditions.
5. You become a guru to people in future generations. What do they admire/ study that you represent(ed)?Wow. Goodness. I've never tried the Guru hat on, before. I cant imagine what people will actually try to take from having known me. Maybe, "lock up your daughters". But if I were able to actually choose what they got from me, it would be this, "Always ask WHY DO WE DO THAT about anything that anyone tells you to do. If everyone did that, then the methods by which we perform our artform would be under constant evaluation. And I tend to think that would be a good thing. Old, weaker ideas die out. Strong, stable ideas stick around and are built on. But that process begins by asking, Why?"
Great questions, Erica! Thanks for asking those!
Cheers,
Mr.B
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